Finn v. Diamond Laundry Co.
Finn v. Diamond Laundry Co.
Opinion of the Court
In an action to foreclose a mechanic’s lien plaintiff had judgment, from which defendant has appealed.
The notice of lien filed sets forth two separate and distinct contracts under and in accordance with which plaintiff, as therein stated, performed work and labor in superintending the installation of plumbing fixtures in a building which defendant, as owner, was constructing.
By the complaint each of these contracts is made the subject of a separate cause of action. In the first count thereof it alleged that defendant, through its duly authorized agent, made a contract with plaintiff to superintend the installation of all “rough plumbing and plumbing proper in the building of the defendant ... at all times during its construction and until its completion,” which “said plumbing is and shall be known and referred to *295 herein as the original contract work”; that the building is a laundry building and, in addition to the plumbing and pipe-fitting aforesaid (that is, “rough plumbing and plumbing proper”), has installed in it plumbing fixtures, supply and waste-pipes; system of piping to and from laundry machinery for hot and cold water; for treated and untreated water; high and low pressure steam lines; gas, oil, and compressed-air lines; a vacuum-cleaning system, and a sprinkler system, all of which was to be put in, and was actually put in and installed in, said building of defendant and used by it as and for a laundry; that defendant promised, undertook, and agreed to pay plaintiff for said work as superintendent of the installation of said plumbing proper as aforesaid only, being the original contract work in the aforesaid building, the sum of $600, $575 of which it has paid.
The contract, as stated in the notice of lien, and upon which the cause of action is based, is as follows: That defendant, as owner, was engaged in constructing a building for use as a laundry and, acting through one Joseph H. Smailes as its duly authorized agent, employed plaintiff “as superintendent of plumbing, having complete and entire charge of all plumbing and pipe fitting in the building at the aforesaid site, at all times during its construction and until its completion; that said work consisted of the installation of plumbing fixtures, supply and waste pipes, very complicated and special systems of piping to and from laundry machinery for hot and cold water, treated and untreated water, high and low pressure steam lines, gas, oil and compressed air lines, vacuum cleaning system, and sprinkler system, all in said building. That said contract of employment was entered into on or about August 23rd, 1916, and for which said work and labor as aforesaid the said . . . Joseph H. Smailes contracted and ágreed to pay the undersigned at the time of the completion of said building the sum of six hundred dollars ($600) for original contract work as set forth above, on which said price the sum of five hundred and seventy-five dollars ($575) has been paid.”
It thus appears that, after stating that he was to have charge of all the plumbing and pipe-fitting, the nature and character of which is set out with great particularity and *296 detail, plaintiff avers that for superintending the installation of all of the work set forth above (which is all of that specifically described in the notice of lien) he was to be paid $600. But this is not the contract declared upon in the complaint, which alleges the work was done under and pursuant to another and entirely different contract, to wit, one for superintending the installation of all “rough plumbing a/nd plumbing proper” in the building. Certainly the plumbing described in the notice of lien could not be deemed rough plumbing. However, conceding such interpretation, such fact could not avail plaintiff herein for the reason that, whatever its character, he, as appears from the notice of lien, was to superintend the installation of all that so particularly described, and for the work and labor in so doing he was to receive as compensation the sum of $600.
It is apparent that the work which plaintiff in this count described as extra work is identically the same, in part at least, as that comprised in the work which, as shown by the contract set forth in the notice of lien, he, as we have hereinbefore held, agreed to perform for the $600; and hence, to the extent that it was the same, he could not recover therefor as extra work.
Moreover, if any part thereof was work not called for by the “original plans and specifications, which were incomplete,” the burden of showing such fact devolved upon plaintiff. Upon this point no attempt was made to segregate the extras from what plaintiff terms the original con *298 tract work. On the contrary, counsel for respondent says that it was, as stated by plaintiff, impossible to do so. Hence the court was left to mere conjecture as to the character, extent, and cost, both as to the work done under the original contract and that constituting extras. Plaintiff’s theory, in support of which some meager evidence was introduced, that he was to receive $600 for work to the extent of $5,850 and ten per cent of the cost of all work over that amount, is not only inconsistent with the contracts set forth in the notice of lien, but likewise inconsistent with the allegations of the complaint.
The judgment is reversed.
Conrey, P. J., and James, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- R. J. FINN, Respondent, v. DIAMOND LAUNDRY COMPANY (A Corporation), Appellant
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published